Women’s League gave NT$617m over decade to KMT

Monday, 05 March 2018 07:23
Taipei Times

The National Women’s League donated NT$617 million (US$21.07 million) to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its foundations over the past decade, with a foundation established by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) receiving NT$11 million, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee’s investigation has found.

League ledgers documenting finances and donations over the past 10 years showed that the league under former chairwoman Cecilia Koo (辜嚴倬雲) had made a large number of donations to organizations founded by the KMT, making it one of the KMT “small coffers,” the committee said.

It issued a stern notice to the Koo family to return the league’s financial records prior to 2006, which went missing in May last year after Koo had them moved to Taiwan Cement Corp’s Taipei headquarters.

The committee would this week charge the Koo family with destroying evidence if they fail to return the missing documents, it said.

Meanwhile, the league in 2011 donated NT$9 million to the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation, which was established by Ma, to fund its educational program for disaster-hit areas, the committee said, adding that it in 2016 made another NT$2 million donation to the foundation to fund its operations.

The league had in 2011 organized prayers in the Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence in Taipei, when the residence was transformed into a tourism facility and managed by the Chungcheng Cultural and Educational Foundation, which was founded with NT$150 million in donations by the KMT, it said.

The league made a total of NT$9 million in donations to the foundation over three years, with an additional NT$2.8 million to help it organize an exhibition about league founder Soong Mayling (宋美齡), Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife, the committee said.

Koo opposed the 2014 Sunflower movement and published an open letter in a newspaper under the league’s name, urging student protesters to terminate their occupation of the Legislative Yuan over a controversial cross-strait trade services agreement, it said.

The league also in 2014 made a NT$2 million donation to the Friends of the Police Association of Republic of China in appreciation of law enforcement officers during the movement, the committe said.

A NT$20 million donation was made in 2016 to St John’s University’s Department of Senior Citizen Service Business, of which Koo is the board director, the committee said, adding that the school has named several campus buildings after Koo for her contribution.

The committee organized two hearings about the status of the league on April 27 and July 18 last year, to which the league invited legal experts to dispute the league’s alleged affiliation with the KMT.

The league paid an attendance fee of NT$100,000 to each person invited to defend the league, while experts invited by the committee received only NT$2,000 for their presence at the hearings, the committee said.

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A group of activists protest outside the American Institute in Taiwan in Taipei yesterday against what they see as Washington forcing Taipei to open its doors to the importation of US beef containing the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine.Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times

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